Epidural Steroid Injections

About This Treatment

Epidural steroid injections are used to treat conditions that affect the spine from the neck to the lower back. One of the major goals of epidural steroid injections is to reduce pain and allow the patient to participate more effectively in physical therapy.

These injections can relieve pain, tingling, numbness and other symptoms of nerve inflammation. We may recommend epidural steroid injections for people with:

• Degenerated discs
• Herniated discs
• Osteoarthritis of the spine
• Protruding discs
• Scar tissue or other changes following neck or lower back surgery
• Spinal stenosis

What to expect from epidural steroid injections

Your doctor will inject an anti-inflammatory medicine into the epidural space, which is the area around your spinal nerve roots. You may be sitting up or lying on your side during the procedure.

First, the doctor will numb the area with a local anesthetic prior to inserting the epidural needle. Then your doctor will insert a needle through skin and deeper tissues to inject the medication, so there is some discomfort involved.

Immediately after the injection, your pain may be gone or much less than it was before. This will last only a few hours. Your pain will return and you may have a sore back for a day or two. It usually takes one to three days for the corticosteroids to take effect, but may take up to seven days.

Most patients experience partial relief after the first injection. The corticosteroids in the injection are active for about a month. Patients may only need injections while an injury heals. People with chronic conditions may need ongoing epidural steroid injections, up to three times per year.

If you do not receive benefit from the epidural injection, other structures may be responsible for your pain. This could include the disc, joints, ligaments or muscles surrounding the spine. You may require further imaging studies or other diagnostic injections to better identify and treat the source of your pain.